I truthfully don’t know how to write a review about a book like this. On the one hand, I feel compelled to defend my intellectual capacity to analyze literature, but on the other hand, I kind of just want to admit that I don’t get it. On the surface, there’s not that much to “get.” Nowhere Man is comprised of several stories at different times from different viewpoints that all describe the life of Josef Pronek, a Bosnian ex-pat who moves to Chicago in his third or […]
An affront to everything that makes books good.
I can’t remember the last time I have not finished a book. I don’t know that I have ever not finished a book. But I did not finish this one, Cannonballers. This book was very similar to the entire Fifty Shades trilogy which — lest you wonder — I did finish. I read up to page 111 of The Sweet Spot, and I will spoil the content that happened up to that point, which shouldn’t upset you because you will not want to read this […]
A picture is worth a thousand words
It seems ironic to choose this cliched aphorism as a title to compliment a book, but Anna Gavalda wrote this novel as if she were painting. Hunting and Gathering has, ostensibly, no plot; it’s a character piece, a window into the lives of four main characters living together in Paris over the course of a few months, and a loving observation of their relationships and effects on each other. One of the main characters, Camille, is, herself, a painter. She’s very talented, and her portraits are […]
When matricide isn’t an option
Bet Me had a pair of horrible, horrible mothers. I finished the book a few weeks ago, and moreso than many other details, the utter heinousness of both the hero and the heroine’s mothers sticks with me. I’ve met supercilious and cold women like the hero’s mother, so she was at least someone who I believe exists on the planet, but Minerva Dobbs — our heroine — is cursed, having been born of the nastiest caricature of a human. If this story is to be […]
“…once you learn your answers, you can never unlearn them.”
From Goodreads: “Shadow gets out of prison early when his wife is killed in a car crash. At a loss, he takes up with a mysterious character called Wednesday, who is much more than he appears. In fact, Wednesday is an old god, once known as Odin the All-father, who is roaming America rounding up his forgotten fellows in preparation for an epic battle against the upstart deities of the Internet, credit cards, television, and all that is wired. Shadow agrees to help Wednesday, and […]
“You have to find your own rules.”
I became interested in American Dervish because I wanted to read something from a different perspective: in this case, a novel by a Pakistani author reflecting on a young American Muslim boy’s experience. The story opens with Hayat Shah when he is college-aged, as he attends an Islamic Studies class. The professor, with whom Hayat is friendly, makes statements that are blasphemous to some of the other Muslim students in attendance, but Hayat himself has a somewhat blasé attitude toward his professor’s claims. Afterward, a friend […]